How to select your genre

Many new writers like to say something like this:

“My story is in a new kind of genre. There is some romance and little historical and some science fiction all mixed together in a coming of age novel.

While you may not say this exactly, I am fairly sure that at some point you have decided you have a whole new genre, but, as King Solomon said in the Bible, there is nothing new under the sun. The same is true with our writing. While our books will have unique elements, we must keep our stories within an explainable category, aka genre.

How do you go about selecting a genre? Some say that you should write in the area you understand best, but that doesn’t always work for every author. While I have a degree in political science and history my stories are contemporary suspense novels. That means that I have more research to do in order to construct my plots, but it is the world I am best able to write in.

Consider what it is that most interests you and the kind of writing you get most excited about. Don’t limit yourself to the kind of writing that fits in with your background or learning. Look at the way the story starts to percolate in your mind. That is your first clue.

Once you’ve selected your genre you have the most important step: research that genre. There are certain conventions in writing that you must provide to your reader. Every genre is a promise. In a romance the promise is he and she will meet at the beginning of the book and be in a happy, committed relationship at the end. If you have her die on the final page you are breaking the promise you gave in writing a romance. In suspense you are promising the reader that there will be an emotional experience where life and limb are challenged. If the bad guy is caught 1/3 of the way through and you proceed to go in to the main characters childhood [without any further threat of the bad guy returning] you have broken the promise to the reader.

Within the formula there is always some room for a SKILLFUL adjustment [notice I said skillful], but you must master the convention before changing it.

In the comments why don’t you share a bit about the genre [or genres] you are writing in and what you like about that genre. You may also want to share your understanding of the conventions of that genre to help others learn about that kind of writing.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Clearly defined purpose

Why do you want to write?

It may seem a silly question but it really deserves an answer. This business is full of rejection, low pay, and long shots. During a soaring economy it was about 10% of Manuscripts [maybe slightly less] that actually saw the light of day and joined hundreds of other books sitting lonely on the bookstore shelves.

Authors, once they get that publishing contract, also find that readers can be snide, cruel and difficult individuals sometimes. Now, I’m not talking about all readers [I happen to be an AWESOME reader. The kind every author longs to have. Ha-ha], but there are those few who want to copy edit your novel instead of reading it or debate a single minor comment on a single page in an obscure part of the subplot.

Why do you want to subject yourself to that?

When I answered it I realized that it was because, to me, the characters in my books are alive. They have stories to tell and a need to be heard. They were born [created] to touch someone and I want to help them do that.

So why do YOU do it? I’d love to hear in the comments. And those of you who are editors, what role do you feel you play in all of this? I’d love to hear from you as well.

To read more on a similar topic follow these links:

Clearly defined goals
Clearly defined success

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Clearly defined success

How is it you are defining success? Your answer that will not only show a great deal about who you are but also about who you will be. If your goal is to maintain where you are-do you like where you are? Some people really do, and that is great! I like where I live. I like the size of our family and I love the relationship I have with my husband. Those things I want to maintain. I write a few columns in addition to my blogs each month. I am happy with that level, but would be willing to take on one more paid article per month [maybe two]. That means I may spend some time on submitting to a few places to try to develop my connections in paying markets.

I want to contract 3 novels this year so my daily tasks will be deemed “successful” each day if they are leading to that ultimate goal.

In Steve Martin’s Hilarious novel, The Pleasure of My Company, the main character has an odd view of success [such as touching the corners of every copier at Kinkos], but he takes very deliberate steps to reaching those goals. Some might call the man crazy, but how much crazier is it to daily say you have a goal but do nothing to cause forward momentum.

At least he left the house to go to Kinkos.

To read more on a similar topic follow these links:
Clearly defined goals
The right opportunity in the right hands

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Clearly defined goals

Over the next few blogs I’m going to really hone in on clarity. Lingering questions are the key to excellent craft but if you ever want your writing to be published there must be some clarity on a few things.

Today think about your goals. Are they clearly defined? You want to be published? When? Where? What form? What genre? What publication or Which project?
Do you even think about these questions? Do you say “I want to be published next year” or do you say, “I want to have my WIP “Awesome Book” completed and at least three queries out by August 2010”?

Does it seem I am really beating on this right now? It is because in the course of working with authors in my Writing Career Coach program I find that most people are extremely ambivalent. They are afraid of failure and are thus stuck in this persistent “One day” mentality.

So, write a clear goal for each day this week. What is ONE thing you will do each day? It could be research [Read 17 pages on Regency etiquette] or it could be directly writing [write 1,500 words], but whatever your goal determine going in how doing this will help advance your writing career. That will give a real value to your goal and make you more likely to follow through.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

I’ll do it as long as I can do it well.

I have come to the conclusion that there are a few different kinds of procrastinators. There are those who have far too much to do, so they are always pushed up against a deadline. That means nothing gets done until it is urgent.

Then there are the procrastinators who find everything so easy that they put it off to the last minute in pursuit of pleasures like movies and games.

There are those who are intimidated by a task and will put it off as long as possible, hoping it will go away.

I’m the type that only enjoys doing what it is that I do really well. This goes for everything: writing, cooking, working, speaking or anything else. As long as I know I’m getting results [positive results] I don’t care how much effort is involved. I will work at it. I want to do everything with excellence. I want to be the best. I push forward to that goal.

That is what makes writing so hard sometimes. It is highly subjective. What is a winning entry in one contest doesn’t even final in another contest. The book project one editor asked for, a publishing board wants to use to start their Christmas fires.

For a type-A personality, writing can offer exciting challenges, an opportunity to learn as well as a horrible assault ones ego. It is an illogical, ever-changing business.

However, it is that change that is most exciting. You are never sure one day to the next what you will work on. What bit of information you will read that will spark a story idea? What plotting technique will change your writing?

So, I guess the best thing we can do is to recognize what it is about us that causes us to put things off…and shut that part of ourselves down. Once we do, the potential for success for a driven person is wide open.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! After the first of the year we will only be posting to our main website. There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more. In order to receive or continue to receive these postings by e-mail, subscribe here.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Using what you live to deepen character conflict

"That will end up in a book."

If you spend any time around a writer you will hear that phrase. That is because so much of our writing is drawn from our personal experiences in one way or another. While most of my stories are not autobiographical [I don't stalk women based on a misinterpreted scripture, nor am I a college student in a small town trying to solve a murder], I have to admit that things that I experience do find their way in to my writing in one way or another.

Maybe it is the way I personally reacted to a breakup or disappointment. It could be that one of my characters is afraid of the same thing I am. These are all obvious and easy to do.

Have you ever considered bringing the dual nature of your personality in to your writing?

I am really a dichotomy. On the one hand, I am a successful speaker who really enjoys speaking to large groups. On the other hand, I am a total nerd who gets excited at the idea of doing research and looked forward to every term paper in college. My idea of a dream job would be sitting in a room full of ideas, articles, news reels, historical data, etc. and making sense of it all. Pecking away at a keyboard and discussing the implications with a coworker of similar temperment. Trying to find a pattern and constructing possible scenarios from it.

How do you reconcile the two? One is extremely extroverted, the other introverted. One thrives on feedback and the energy of a crowd, the other the quiet solitude of one's own thoughts.

I guess you become a writer. That's what I did.

Think about the contradictory things in you. Then take time to discover and deepen the contradictory nature of your main characters [including your villain]. Doing that will deepen your writing and create a more relatable story.

Learn how to get readers to pick you and your story by following these links:
Getting readers to pick you
How readers decide what to read
Presenting yourself well
Getting noticed by readers
Going on the hunt

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

How to clearly show your story to your reader

“Writing is telepathy.”

I read that in Stephen King’s book, On Writing. It changed the way I looked at writing. The reason was not so much because it was funny or clever but it was because it made my understanding of writing so much clearer.

That is our job as writers. We need to convey with clarity every thought and emotion our characters express. They need to cry when our character hurts and hide their eyes when the evil is fast approaching. We need to transport thoughts and that comes through the senses.

While there is no simple way to build tension or infuse emotion there are some things that are fundamental:

1. Make sure you engage every sense, including a sense of smell, on every page. Use creative nouns and different ways to explain the senses.

2. Connect a physical sense to an emotion. Don’t smell a sweet flower. Smell the intense softness of a lilac and let it pull them back to spring nights of hide-and-go-seek in grandma’s back yard. You can further infuse the emotion by making the darkness an enveloping blanket or a deep black shroud.

3. Be true to the character of your story. A city girl won’t know the difference between scratch and mash, but a chicken farmer will. If you want her to know that, however, it can add an interesting dimension. You must make clear that you know it is unusual.

4. Clue the reader in. While you don’t want to interrupt the story to explain something to the reader, you need to clue them in. Find ways to weave details in the story that the reader may not always know. Readers read to explore; help them do it.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list of the skills necessary to engage readers, these elements are a part of every good story. Go back through your current manuscript and incorporate these elements in to your story.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Fight for it

Last night I was having a conversation with three of my daughters, I have four, and I was talking about my years in school. With the new school year in full swing we were talking about goals and expectations. One thing in particular I wanted them to think about is the strength of their dream. My daughter who is nearly eleven was talking about all the different things she’d like to be when she grows up. Her young mind was struggling to figure out how she could be so many differently, and seemingly unrelated, things.

It occurred to me that many people that I am in contact with through Writing Career Coach battle with the same issues. They arent’ sure if they are interested in or committed to writing. I’ve encountered many people in the years I’ve been writing. I saw some who are stagnating. They have reached a certain level and they’ve become enamored with the idea of “One Day” being a writer, but never really committed to seeing it happen. I’ve seen others get so paralyzed with fear over their writing that they stopped doing it all together. And then I’ve seen some who have really fought for it, and they’ve prevailed.

When I was in sales they used to say “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.” Usually we said this about a new person who was starting out. They were excited and saw no limit to their potential. Over time, and with a steady stream of rejection, they gave up. They had more knowledge and better sales techniques but they went nowhere because they’d decided it was impossible. They weren’t willing to fight for it.

So, today, right now, consider what it is about your writing that you’re willing to fight for? Maybe you have an article almost done that is rotting on your hard drive. Wrap it up and send it off. Maybe you need to stop watching a cool new series on TV and spend time writing instead. Maybe, like me, you need to flip your body clock so you can write in the mornings as the house sleeps instead writing at night when there are more distractions.
Often by changing one small activity you can completely change your amount of progress. Don’t give up if you’re in a rut. Fight for it.

The Writing Career Coach blog is moving! In order to offer you more services and a central location for all information I am moving this blog to our main website: http://www.writingcareercoach.com/ There you will find the blog, information on my speaking topics, FREE articles to help you with your writing and more.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Preparing your fall calendar

When I was in sales we had something called planning your calendar. That meant figuring out what you needed in sales and then looking at your ratio of calls to bookings and finally looking at your average income per booking. The way this usually worked out was about 4 or 5 calls before you got a “yes”. Once you had a yes the average income was about $75-$100 for the booking.

With that information you were to look at what you needed to earn and time available and get your calendar booked. You always booked it 4-6 weeks out starting with the first two weeks.

Writers need to do the same thing. Our industry is slower than making a cold call [most places require a month or more to give a response on a proposal, even an article] but that isn’t an excuse to delay building your calendar. In fact, that makes it even more crucial.

Now that the chaos of summer is over the excuse from many will be “Well, we have back to school, the holidays, etc.” I think you’ve figured out by now it is always SOMETHING. There will always be SOMETHING that makes writing a challenge, but there is nothing in life worth doing that comes simply.

Take some time to determine what is necessary to get your goals met. Here is an example of what I am doing:

One editing project per week

Ten new coaching clients per month

Three blogs per week on each of my two blogs

Three examiner articles per week

Monthly marketing columns for the three different magazines I write for

Complete rough draft of one book every 6 weeks

Read one book per week on business and read one novel per week

In order to do each of these things I know what I need to do daily. I need to bid about 8 jobs because I know ½ of people who contact me for a quote end up booking a job that month. I need to read the book/novel every week and maintain the blogs because that leads to the new material that leads to more coaching clients. Everything builds on something else.

With that I go through and determine what must be done each day.

So what are you working towards in September? Do you even know? Do you have a plan of any kind? That will be the first thing.

Once you’ve done that, go plan your calendar.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The first 3 pages: Part 5

I hope this series of short blogs has helped you develop the opening pages of your book. I have given you quite a few assignments and asked many questions. I hope it made you want to look at many books in many genres. I hope it will improve your craft in those first crucial pages.

And most of all I hope you learned from my technique.

I always seek to show rather than tell my readers. That is because I am first and foremost an author. It is in my blood. Did you see how I left unanswered questions from the first day up until today? Some I answered right away [how we will use this will be described tomorrow] others were taken throughout the entire “work” of this blog series [What are the things I need to do to engage my reader? What is the valuable lesson about showing vs. telling?]

I modeled the techniques that every writer must use. I hope they have been useful to you [and for those Non-fiction writers who may have wondered on day one how this would help them, I hope I’ve now answered that as well. These 5 blogs weren’t fiction.]

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The first 3 pages: Part 4

Last week we looked at the first three pages, now we’re going to pull it all together.

Day 1: What questions were introduced?
Day 2: What physical senses were engaged?
Day 3: What emotions were engaged?

Now think about your own book. How much do you have going on in the first pages? Are you spending so much time trying to tell the reader what happened before they opened the book that you don’t get them involved in the moment? Are we bogged down with interior monologue? Or are you pulling the reader in to the moment and making them feel, taste and experience the moment? Are they wondering about parts of the book? Are there unanswered questions that keep you reading?

How important is that to your book? We’ll talk about that next time.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 3

This week we’ve looked at the questions that pull your reader along and the 5 senses that cause you to experience each moment. Now we’re going to step in to the emotional realm. Pull out your same book and go over those same three pages:

1. What emotions are engaged? [Fear, Love, Hate, wonder, Confusion, etc…]
2. How did they cause you to experience them? [What words did they use to create the emotion?]
3. How long was it before you had an emotional experience of any kind while reading the book? [How many lines in?]

We will tie this all together next week. I hope to see you then.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

The First 3 pages: Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the first few pages of a novel and asked three questions. Remember, the way to keep a reader moving through your book it to ask and answer a series of questions during the course of the story. You want the reader curious. This has to be about more than just the big “will the good guy win” questions, also questions like “Why doesn’t she trust people?” or “Why does he want her to come over tomorrow?” It is those little questions that keep your reader satisfied enough that they don’t hurl your book across the room. The unanswered ones keep them reading.

Today I have three new questions for you to consider. Grab the same book from yesterday and now look at the first few pages again:

1. How many physical senses were engaged in the FIRST page? [Be sure to look for very subtle ones]
2. Find one creative way they caused you to experience something physically. [Look for creative ways to describe the way something smells, tastes or feels.]
3. How long before you have a physical experience? [By this I mean how many lines in to the book before one of your 5 senses were engaged?]

Are you learning about craft? We’ll take it a step deeper tomorrow.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.

Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Crazy people think they’re sane

In a previous blog posting I told you to visualize your plot through the POV of your bad guy [antagonist]. That is because no one [no matter how insane] thinks that they are insane. The day I realized that my writing completely changed.

Think about this. Every bad person feels completely justified in their evil. Every good person does questionable things in the name of what is right.

When you try to look at your entire story through the POV of your bad guy you will find a depth to your story telling that you might not have experienced before. Whole novels have been written with this idea [the book Wicked which shows the Wizard of Oz from the POV of the Wicked Witch of the West comes to mind]

So, if you write Fiction, take time to really examine the antagonist. Find out why they tick. Make them a REAL character in their own right.

You might be surprised by the great story that comes to life when you do.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Brainstorming

I thought a fun thing to do today would be to have a little brainstorming prompt to take you in to the week. This is something I have on the wall next to my desk. You don’t have to write anything down [unless you want to] but I want you to think about it, chew on it, think about it some more:

How could things get worse? When would be the WORST moment for them to get worse?

Now, I want you to think about those two questions for each of your main characters. Bad guy and Good guy. Once you’ve figured this out then try to figure out a scenario that is impossibly bad. And then try to work each character out of the situation.

Finally, try to see your entire story [the full plotline] from the point of view of your bad guy. If the bad guy were actually the GOOD guy [by that I mean imagine the bad guys goals were the right thing to do in that situation] how would your plot look different?

Then come back next time to see what we do with this exercise!

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Surround yourself with Wisdom

You’ve heard me mention many times about the networking group I participate in, the ProVision Network. Last week I was at a Leadership meeting for our particular chapter and we talked a bit about mentorship. Then Saturday night I heard a man talking about the need to develop wisdom.

As often happens, I began to churn and synthesize these ideas together to see how they could help us become more productive and successful authors. What information could apply directly to us as writers?

The most obvious thing would be the need to attend writer’s conferences and learn from other writers. I think the success of my Writing Career Coach mentorship program is a proof of the benefit that comes from learning from others.

Not everyone can attend a writer’s conference, however, so there are also blogs by authors, editors and agents. Those of you who are developing their writing skills right now don’t realize the huge advantage you have vs. those of us who started years ago. Even as recently as 2003, there were not the variety and quality of blogs as we have now by people in the industry. While there is a great deal of fluff online, once you identify great sources of information you have a resource worth far more than you can imagine. Try to find ONE action step or one useful bit of information from each blog you read. Don’t let the information be passive. Make it your to-do list each week.

Finally, set the goal to read 1 or 2 books each month. I’d suggest reading a novel and a business book. There are so many that are now available on tape from libraries that it should not be prohibitive to anyone.

The key to growing as a writer is growing in wisdom. It shakes the cobwebs of and inspires creativity. Pursue wisdom whenever and wherever possible. All of us have things still to learn. The sooner we get at them, the sooner we become professionals.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Grow from Success. Learn from Failure

I think it is a result of modern education and its focus on top grades and standardized test scores, but people are afraid to fail. I can speak on this subject with great authority because I was a perfectionist. I took more than the required number of honors courses to graduate from the Honors college of my university, I had a cumulative GPA of 3.903 and scored above the 95th percentile on my ACT [99th percentile in the English section].

America is not alone in this focus on excellence. The German and French Education systems are also standardized test focused with a series of tests determining your entire future.

Failure at just one can, and does, impact your entire life.

However, in my studies of society’s most successful people I have found a few common characteristics: revolutionary thinking, a circle of wise advisors, and FAILURE.

Failure is an absolute prerequisite to significant success in business or life. It is from these failings that we learn what doesn’t work. Edison is quoted as having said “I didn’t fail 100 times [in inventing the light bulb]. I found 100 ways not to do it.”

In fact, the most meaningful quote TO ME by Edison is on the wall of my office, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

As writers we much face rejection [failure] constantly. Even those who have broken in to publishing will routinely be rejected for future projects, be rejected by readers, or even be rejected by fellow authors. It is important to see the benefits that can be captured through failure. They offer the opportunity to refocus and improve.

Success is the water station along the marathon of life. We can take a sip to quench our thirst and we can splash some on our face to cool off, but then we need to get back to running. We need to keep conditioning. We need to build and grow.

So, if you’ve recently experienced success: GREAT! I’m seeing dramatic success in my blog and article traffic. I’m also seeing a surge in clients. There are many people recognizing this economy for what it is: a time to CONDITION in anticipation for the next up-swing.

However, if you’re facing constant rejection, don’t lose heart. Keep pushing on. Look at what is being rejected and why. Take the time to focus on improving those areas. That is what will distinguish you from those who drop out of the race.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at http://www.writingcareercoach.com/

Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group’s next event.Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.

Learn more about Tiffany’s Marketing techniques on her main blog.

Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.

Read Tiffany’s award winning manuscript “A Face in the Shadow” on her fiction blog.

She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer’s Rest.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

As I said on Friday, the key to reaching success is simply taking steps. A few of you posted in the comment section what your weekend goals were and some of you emailed me to let me know privately, but other people wrote to tell me that weekends are times when they take a break from writing.

I respect that. I don't want any "9-5" writers to feel left out so I've decided that we are going to repeat our accountability for this week, however I'm going to modify it a bit. Write down the top 3 things you want to be SURE to accomplish this week. I don't want the whole weeks to do list but simply those few things that simply must be accomplished this week to keep you on track with your writing.

I will begin:

This week I need to do some market research for my speaking.
This week I need to turn in 10 articles that are due.
This week I need to finish outlining my latest book and write the first chapter.

We won't do this every week but it is a useful exercise to give an extra push periodically. In fact, I have spent a great deal of time over these last few weeks reading books for Writing Career Coach. These books will be the foundation of some upcoming blogs. These will focus on the things that successful businesses did to create lasting success in their individual businesses. It will also look at ways to help increase your readership by learning how to connect with your main readers. There are some exciting nuggets to share. I hope you'll join us, link to us and digg us.

And feel free to share your thoughts with us. We'd love to hear from you.

And everyone that posted their goals on Friday, how did you do?

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Making the Cut

Last night I was at a networking meeting of local business people and learned a wonderful lesson. The person sharing is about 2 years older than me and he was sharing the story of how he was able to build a strong insurance business. He said

Understand the gatekeeper you need to work with.

This was a great lesson-and one I'm going to blog on Friday-but I really learned came in the form of a book I got at the meeting. I was helping at the sign in table and was perusing the books that were laying there. I am an avid reader and try to keep up on as much as possible in business development and marketing. I am always watching for new books to help build my business and share nuggets of wisdom with my blog readers and my Examiner.com readers.

As I was driving to the meeting yesterday I was thinking through the recent growth of Writing Career Coach, my expansion to the national level with my Examiner.com Writing page, and the growth of my speaking. Despite the success I'm having, I knew there was something I wasn't quite getting. It teased at the edge of my consciousness, but it's full understanding alluded me.

I flipped open the book and read the analogy between success and trying out for a sports team:

"Let me illustrate what I am saying in another way: Every little child in your town gets to play in the 'recreational league.' This is the sports association where nobody cares who wins and everybody gets to participate in every inning. MOst of the ladies like that. They think that is the way it is supposed to be. 'Little Johnny' always gets to play, nobody's feelings get hurt, and all the mommies are happy...

"But then there is the traveling team...

"This is the team that plays in a league where they actually play the games to win...This is the level at which skill and ability become prerequisites for acceptance to the team. However, the mommies whose children did not make the traveling team might get upset that their kids cannot go. They might suddenly switich over into thinking that 'self-esteem issues' are more important than qualifications. But the truth of the matter is that the parent of one who did not make the traveling team needs to ask himself why his child was disqualified. Did he practice as much as the others? Is the child eating right? Is he getting enough sleep? Is the child actually gifted for the sport? You see, everybody can play on the recreational league, but a child needs to meet certain criteria in order to be able to play on the traveling team." [From Divine Provision By Dan Stratton with Rich Vermillion. Pg. 161, Emphasis the Authors]

So, it's tough love time. We all want to be published authors but are we really willing to take the steps necessary to make the Traveling Team [published]. Or do we want to have the feel-good comfort of the recreational team. Are you working at your craft until you are exhausted? Are you writing again and again until the sentence is right? Are you taking the rejections and pushing through anyway? Are you writing one book and then immediately starting another? Are you willing to accept that you don't know everything? Are you spending more time explaining why your craft is great than learning how to make it better?

It is time for writers to bring their craft up a level. Some things are subjective, and writing is one of them, however that does not mean there are no standards. Aspiring writers need to begin to accept harsh realities, and the hard work that comes with them. There is NO easy way to get published. It requires countless hours of study and hard work.

In high school I knew my parent had no money to send me to college and that they couldn't afford to take out parent loans. I knew the only way I could get my degree was hard work. From 10th grade on I took the hardest classes, I studied, I earned a Varsity letter in Gymnastics for two years, I worked 20 hours a week and graduated in the top 15% of my class. I scored in the 96th percentile on the ACT.

And I worked even harder in college.

I didn't earn a full ride so each year I had to prove myself again so that I could earn new scholarships and renew those I had. Every 10 week quarter I had to prove myself all over again. When I graduated college I had a 3.903 GPA. I had worked 20+ hrs all through college, 40hours in the summer. I had taken beyond full time so I could get out in 4 years. I had been in the honors college so I had to take honors courses. I was 1 course away from having a dual minor. My days began at 5:45am and ended at 11pm. On weekends I studied from 8-5 Saturday, 1-8pm on Sunday.

I was doggedly determined to reach my goal on my time frame.

What would happen if we attacked our writing dream with the ferocity we pursue other things?

Don't make kids, committments or jobs your excuse. If we're going to make the cut as writers our pursuit of that goal has to be our singular focus. We can't relax.

That is how you make the cut.

Whether you get there or not depends solely on you.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

A rare Wednesday post

You know that I usually don't post on Wednesdays here at Writing Career Coach, but I simply had to write.

I read a blog on the ChipMacGregor.com website today that had me almost cheering! Sandra Bishop, an agent at MacGregor Literary, wrote an analogy about the writer's life that I believe EVERY SINGLE WRITER--no matter their stage of writing--should read and share with others. Read the posting here.

[If the link doesn't work copy and paste here http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com/main/2009/05/a-twisty-little-story-from-sandra-about-the-writing-journey-.html]

After you've read it I would love to have you come over and tell me what you thought of the posting.

I'll see you on Friday for our normal end of the week blog.






Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]